FRESNO, Calif. – On Friday, on the eve of Brian Ortega’s headlining affair opposite fellow featherweight contender Cub Swanson, he had an interesting chat in an elevator.

“They were like, ‘Brian is probably too stupid to go to the ground. He’s going to try to bang,’” Ortega said.

The tone, Ortega explained, was playful. Still, it stuck with him.

“I was like, ‘Hmm. I’m not stupid. I just like to bang,’” Ortega said with a laugh. “But I realized (Swanson) wasn’t trying to bang. So I was like, ‘If he’s not trying to bang, then let me take full advantage of it and go to my forte, which is jiu-jitsu.”

And what a forte that is. After a near-miss in the first round against a game-ready Swanson (25-8 MMA, 10-4 UFC), Ortega (13-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) capped off Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 123 event at Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif., with a beautiful guillotine choke. His efforts earned him two $50,000 fight-night bonuses – for both “Fight of the Night” and “Performance of the Night.”

It was the third submission in a UFC run consisting only of finishes. But this one comes with some added flair: Not only was it against a battle-tested veteran, but it was a brilliantly executed move that required a slick grip readjustment. The finish inspired a frenzy in the MMA community.

Clearly, after 14 years of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, 26-year-old black belt Ortega knows his way with chokes – even if it took being on the other end of the submssions by the likes of Rener Gracie to get there.

“You don’t realize, because I’m getting beat up all the time,” Ortega said. “My whole life, I thought I sucked. And then I get in here and I grapple other people, and I’m like, ‘I’m actually good.’ So it feels good. I’ve been getting choked out by these guys for so long, I’m just used to another caliber of jiu-jitsu.”

After a high-profile win, the perennial dark horse has certainly launched himself into the vicinity of the title picture. And he’d be happy to get that. As he said in the octagon, though, Ortega is not in the business of jumping in line. The rightful challenger, he understands, is Frankie Edgar, who withdrew from a title meeting with champ Max Holloway at UFC 218.

If it’s possible to get the winner of that, Ortega said, than that would be fine with him. But if not?

“I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing,” Ortega said. “I’m blessed and happy to be here.”

While he awaits his next fight, though, Ortega will most likely continue to focus on the work that he discussed with UFC President Dana White immediately after his fight (via Twitter):

“I’ve been saying, I really want to help people out,” Ortega said. “I want to use this light – to not just have it on me. They invested a lot of money to promote me and everything. And now that my name is getting out there, I want to help people out. That’s my main thing. I love kids. I love helping kids out. I’m not the perfect person, but I have the perfect heart, I feel, when it comes to helping people. …

“There’s too much negativity going on in the world, and I don’t just want to talk about, ‘Hey, let’s make the world a better place.’ I want to be the change that you want to see in the world. I’ve been there; I’ve done it. I’ve been doing charity work since I was 20 years old, and now that I’m on a huge platform, maybe I can use this opportunity to help as many people as I can.”

To hear more from Ortega, check out the video above.

And for complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 123, check out the UFC Events section of the site.